A Restless Talent on the Edge

"I t's not a good choice to say no. You have to put your foot in the door. Prove you're a good artist. Then they'll listen. Otherwise, you can wait a lifetime."

Backstage at the Theatre du Chatelet, seven years after the fact, the French soprano Natalie Dessay is justifying her Metropolitan Opera debut, as the Fiakermilli, yodeling belle of the Mardi Gras ball in Act II of Richard Strauss's...